Sharing William’s Surgery Story Continues To Have A Positive Impact!

Today I received an email from the Stollery Children’s Hospital Pre-Admission Clinic in Edmonton which really touched my heart and made my day, below is part of the email:

“First of all, thank you for taking the time to create a book on the cardiac journey that William and your family embarked on in February, 2016. I just wanted you to know that the book has been most useful to the parents of the children that also required open heart surgery. The book has also been very useful for the nurses to use as a teaching tool. So thank you for creating the book.

We would like to order more of these books with your permission, but need some of the details of how to go about ordering and the cost. I am hoping that we would be able to get funding to create more books and to be able to give the books to the families that would like to keep one.”

–Lillian (Clinical Nurse Practitioner Stollery Children’s Hospital)

This email is a reminder of the impact that sharing our experiences, even difficult ones can have on other people going through something similar. I will never forget the day I met Charlotte and Jason for coffee to talk about what they had gone through with their son’s heart surgeries and travelling to Edmonton for the surgeries. We talked about everything from open heart surgery, The Stollery Children’s Hospital, costs, accommodations to recovery afterwards. When they asked me if I wanted to see a picture of their son after his surgery I wasn’t sure I wanted to. I knew I needed to so I could better prepare myself for what William would go through. I don’t know if they know how much that coffee meant to me! I felt much more prepared because they took the time to meet with me and share. They were there for me in a way that no one else could be unless they are a Heart Family! Thank you from the bottom of my heart! You inspired me to share William’s story with others to be able to help support them in the same way you did for me. I feel honored to be able to continue to support the Stollery Children’s Hospital with these books of William’s surgery and recovery!